Of Epilogues
by teanotes
Summary: "Percy, please-oh-please tell me you and Annabeth didn't adopt two random suspicious-looking British kids off the streets just 'cause you were feeling lonely."
1. 1 of 3

a/n: ive rewritten this like three times over the span of two years kinda omg also i try to lay out the timeline for you esp later if you can't catch on haha h .. .

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_1 of 3 - Of Beginnings_

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_(Sunday) September 20, 2009 – 6:36 PM_

_._

"It's all right, Victoire." Teddy comforted. "You can cry if you want."

The little girl in question inhaled sharply before answering maturely. "I'm not gonna cry, Teddy. I only cry when I'm scared. You're gonna laugh if I do, too."

She was not wrong, but the two had gone a long way. Tagging along with Harry to New York City was a struggled victory consisting of pouty faces and whining, and convincing him to leave them both to their own devices to wander the city unsupervised was completely unguided.

One hour, three subways, and nine hot dogs later, the two find themselves, predictably, lost. Teddy thought multiple times of using magic, only fearing the absolute terrifying scoldings they were bound to face sooner or later.

For the ever-clueless Harry Potter in the other side of the city, however, his only thoughts hovered merely on how boring the meeting with the Secretary of Magical Affairs was going and how he'd really go for a pumpkin tart right about then. At least he was out of trouble, Teddy thought fondly (and most likely channeling Ginny Potter).

Leading Victoire by hand, Teddy waltzed through alleyways and slipped by police cars passing by, leaning towards Harry's old infamous way of thinking; quiet, brash, and reckless.

"Where is Uncle Harry, again?" Victoire broke the growing silence between them. Of course, a night at New York was everything but. "I think the meeting's ending soon and if we don't get there before it's done, he'll definitely know we sneaked!"

He knew that, Teddy did, but he still had his pride as an eleven year old. "Oh, hush," he brushed off, "I know where we're going. Empire State. Floor one-hundred and third. It's where they're having the meeting, but I dunno where America's _real_ headquarters are."

"Then why aren't we there yet? I'm getting tired. I wanna go to Uncle Harry."

"Stop complaining. We can do this by ourselves, I swear. We're almost there."

They ended up in another alley, dark and depressing and damp. At the very least, although he didn't know where on earth he was going, moving was more comforting than staying in one place.

Strangers haven't asked them weird questions or took them to weird places, so Teddy believed nothing too terrible was happening yet. Hopefully they'd bump into a fellow wizard, although they didn't know if it were possible.

"Teddy! Teddy, you're hurting me!"

Teddy loosened his grip on Victoire's wrist and apologized.

"Teddy..." Victoire quieted. She seemed to have caught onto his hesitancy. "Edward Remus Lupin," she announced a bit louder, leaving Teddy to think she'd reached her limit with the immensely impossibly huge area. "You really don't know where you're going, do you?"

"Sorry, Vic," Teddy said, his hair uncontrollably turning from bright turquoise to pale white—ashamed. His emotions were literally the easiest to decipher; wearing hearts on sleeves didn't even compare. Luckily, no muggles were around to witness the change. "I don't."

Behind him, the nine year old sighed. Teddy hoped she wouldn't get into a Hermione-esque rant about how completely irresponsible he was acting or whatever, but—praise Dumbledore—she remained withdrawn.

This was the fourth street they had taken a turn to an alley, and Teddy was beginning to feel little nervous. More nervous than before they ate that ninth hot dog. Between the two, a quick understanding passed. They headed towards the crowded streets and wandered.

Teddy shifted his hair to a calm deep brown and made sure his eyes stayed a natural color. His hand was still latched tightly on Victoire's, but besides the earlier remark, she made no claims as to do otherwise. Not that he necessarily hated it, either.

Although the bright night city was buzzing with strangers, none did the two find stranger than seeing someone in a realistic lizard-like monster costume strum a guitar. Victoire was the one to tug at his hand, walking closer to the weird performer. Teddy surveyed the reactions of the bystanders and discovered they weren't that disturbed by the lizard costume playing acoustic rock in the middle of the walk. Some even stayed and enjoyed it, dropping money in the guitar case.

"Do all muggles do this for fun?" Teddy asked, more to himself than anyone.

Victoire took the liberty to answer. "_American_ muggles, maybe."

The performance of the costumed player were continuing, and Victoire and Teddy stayed put. It wasn't that the music was so impressive or alluring that they remained, though, but the fact that something else caught their attention later entirely.

It was the teenage couple next to them, looking like they had just come from a date, watching the performer and holding hands. Victoire quietly pointed out their matching grey streaks in their hair and said Teddy should try that one day. Teddy ignored her.

Something about the way they faked their smiles and how they occasionally narrowed their eyes intently bothered Teddy. He relayed his distress quickly to Victoire, who, while she did want to dismiss his paranoia, felt the same suspicion.

The teenage boy whispered something into the girl's ear. She nodded her blonde head. They were both looking less and less lovey-dovey and more ruthless by the second.

From the corner of his eye, Teddy saw something weirder occur. He turned to face the man standing behind, as there was still a crowd around the performer.

"Sir," started Teddy. "did you see the guitarist's tail swish?"

The man blinked and frowned. "Tail? What are you—Hey, kid, you're not foolin' anybody."

Teddy furrowed his brow. "The tail. From the costume."

"Kid," the man said, "that girl ain't wearin' no _costume_."

This was the moment Teddy saw it snow sparkles.

Snapping his head towards the direction of the performer's spot, he saw was the teenage couple amongst a pile of sand, holding something that looked like swords. Maybe it was. The two looked like they were discussing something of importance.

Teddy reached out for Victoire's hand, which throughout all this he had managed to let go, and made sure she was standing close.

"What," he asked, the two teenagers still bantering as if nothing exploded. "just happened?"

He looked at Victoire and saw her teeth chattering. It was cold, and he had already lent her his jumper earlier. She had seen it all, he guessed. "They—the pen. Just slashed it, and all! It was—it wasn't a costume, Teddy!"

Teddy put his hand on her head, as if it could stop her from chattering her head off. He glanced behind him to realize the crowd was no longer listening, but clapping. He didn't understand. The lizard thing wasn't playing anymore.

"Good performance." Said the man behind him who had called him _kid_. "Real solid. You don't hear that kind of music everyday."

The other people from the crowed seemed to agree with his sentiment and soon dispersed. The sand, which Teddy drew to the conclusion was the reptilian person, had faded. Surprisingly, couple were still talking.

Teddy and Victoire moved closer to them. The milk crate the lizard sat on while playing was now scattered to the side. The guitar case was gone, too, along with the money.

"Where'd it's guitar go?" Victoire asked them. Teddy forgot to tell her to be cautious of them, although it was too late now.

The two turned their heads in Victoire's direction and looked alarmed. Teddy could now identify their appearances. It's a struggle for Teddy to get grey eyes, but black hair and green eyes were a personal favorite of his.

"Monster?" was what the girl asked the boy.

"No," he replied.

Victoire took on a hurt face, and Teddy was kind of offended on her behalf.

"That's really rude, you know," Teddy defended. "Victoire's _all_ kinds of pretty."

Immediately, Victoire brightened. That really was all it took to cheer that girl up, he thought.

The blue green eyes boy nudged the girl. "Look what you did, Wise Girl, you hurt her feelings. Apologize."

She threw a scathing glare at the boy but slipped to an apologetic smile when facing Victoire. "Sorry, it's been a long day."

"Wait," the other boy interrupted. "What did you mean by 'where'd _it's_ guitar go'?"

Victoire and Teddy exchanged a look. "It's nothing important," Victoire amended. This was their chance.

"But we know you're, um," Teddy glanced around, like looking for eavesdroppers. He dropped his voice. "_Magical_."

Their eyes widened, almost comically.

"Yeah, it's okay, since we are, too! " Victoire added, "We're hoping you can help us find my uncle. He's in the Empire State Building, but we don't know how to get there. Can you help us?"

"Empire...? Well, this is… an interesting turn," the blonde girl said. She crossed her arms and looked at the boy, deemed to be her boyfriend. "_Well?_"

He paused. "Well what? Oh! Right, but first don't you think we should ask Chiron about these kids? No one told anyone to assign for..."

The blonde girl's eyes flashed. "Hold on." The four were face to face, although the teens had to hunch down to match the children. She smiled at them, and was very pretty. She was what Teddy might've imagined most Americans looked like, with her bright hair and tanned tone. "Sure, we'll help you."

Relief was all he felt throughout his body. "Thank you. My name's Teddy. That's Victoire."

A bright smile was given in return by the boy and he grabbed the girl for an introduction. Teddy took the time to notice they wore matching necklaces. "This is Annabeth, and I'm Percy. Nice to meet you, Teddy."


	2. 2 of 3

a/n: freaky deaky this is a filler chap sorry maybe i'll add an epilogue or yea

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_2 of 3 - Of Middles_

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_(Sunday) September 20, 2009 – 7:12 PM _

.

The moment he stepped out of the marquee, Percy could sense the presence of a monster. To be more accurate, he could _hear_ it. Annabeth wasn't as slow as he was, and was already tapping away on her heels towards the source.

He wasn't going to lie, the past few days had been a great anniversary weekend, starting with Friday's find-a-cacadeus-and-go-to-Paris activity. It was totally awesome, but it wasn't exactly Percy's _style_ either.

They both decided to keep the rest of the weekend together and just do whatever they felt like doing—today was especially no different. Neither of them had been to a marquee before, and they just happened to pass by after their dinner. Most of what they did recently was always on a whim nowadays, so this wasn't too much of a surprise.

To make a short story even shorter—and partly because what had happened prior was too insignificant to mention—Percy and Annabeth safely defeated the mythical lizard creature Annabeth identified correctly and it burst into the familiar sparks Percy had come to know over the years. Oddly enough, it was calming.

Annabeth, after defeating it, made sure the Mist was working properly and even tinkered with it herself. Percy hoped the gathered crowd didn't see two teenage kids join in and sing with the street performer, though. He had enough of that nonsense.

Then the two kids with the British accents stepped in. They talked about the Empire State Building and uncles and magic, which didn't make Percy perturbed.

At their request, Percy and Annabeth agreed to take them to the Empire State—they've dealt with harder quests. Once you've toppled the Titan of all Titans, a little thing like directing two lost kids didn't' even compare.

Percy didn't mind the kids at all, though. They were a real riot. While they guided them, Percy took it upon himself to point at passing by restaurants and hotspots that they might as well know about. It was clear they weren't native to his city. Once or twice, the two would pick a fight with each other, saying that they knew more about a certain place. Percy tried not to laugh.

Annabeth, he could tell, seemed normal, but was on guard. She was quiet during their walk—calculating. Maybe part of it was because she was just embarrassed to realize the kids' arguing sounded a lot familiar to _them_ than anything.

The kids, Percy and Annabeth discovered, had wasted all their money on train rides and hotdogs (Percy could empathize—the hotdog vendors sold heavenly ones), so they didn't have enough for cabs. They had come with their uncle, who they said they had ditched the moment he had gone into a meeting for work related business. Asking directions were a no-no because talking to strangers were weirdly a strict teaching for them. They had only asked them because they knew Percy and Annabeth had "magic".

Since they had previous knowledge about demigod stuff, Percy wondered about their backgrounds. No way could two demigod kids run around the city for a whole day without running into a couple monsters and surviving without a scratch.

"So," started Percy. "who's this uncle of yours?"

The boy who introduced himself as Teddy lit up like a Christmas tree, and for a second Percy could swear he saw his eyes flash red, then back to brown. Okay, sure.

"Harry?" Teddy repeated. "He's my godfather! He's _the_ Harry P―"

Victoire, the younger girl, flicked him in the head before he continued. She whispered something into his ear that made Teddy's eyes widen.

"Oh," he amended. "Sorry, never mind."

Annabeth tensed, but Percy tried to dismiss it. He had to lessen his girlfriend's tension somehow.

"Harry Puh? Sounds foreign." said Percy. "You two aren't from New York, are you?"

"Gee," Victoire drawled, "What makes you think that?"

The little girl wasn't cute―at least, Percy wouldn't call her cute. He didn't want to sound creepy, but the truth was, Victoire was pretty—like, "I'm a little girl but I'm also nicer looking than a model" pretty. It was a weird concept, but who was he to complain about weird?

Percy chuckled in reply. "Wild guess?"

Victoire glanced at Annabeth before looking at back at him. "Is there a school for you lot here, too?"

Percy blinked. Demigods? That's what she meant, right?

Is she implying there's a _school_ for demigods where she's from? Now that he thought about it, there was no way there could even be demigods in Britain—guessing that was where they were from. Though he couldn't circle the theory in red yet; they could have been from Oregon for all he knew. But if they really _were_ from Europe, how could they even be demigods? The gods can't even stand _Alaska_, let alone a whole other _continent_.

If he thought this now, he was certain Annabeth thought this before him and was figuring out a way to squeeze answers. Not literally, hopefully.

"No," Surprisingly, it was Annabeth who answered. "We don't have a school. We have a camp."

"Camp?" asked Teddy. "Like, _muggle_ camp?"

Percy felt all words die at the tip of his tongue. Muggle. He didn't know what that meant—maybe it was some slang from where they were from. Percy missed out that part of childhood—where he used codenames for everything. But, this time, he had a feeling it wasn't a simple codename.

"What's muggle?" Annabeth asked for him. Victoire looked alarmed, like she'd just asked _Why's the sky blue? _

"Maybe they don't use that word in America?" Teddy whispered to Victoire, confused. It was loud enough for all of them to hear.

Victoire shrugged, and Percy had to give her props for keeping cool. He was strongly reminded of Aphrodite's children. "Whatever. And this camp? Is it…_near?_"

"Yeah," replied Percy. "It's in Long Island." A cough. "I mean, it's a ten minute cab ride away from where we are."

"Wicked!" She exclaimed. "Can we take a look?"

Before Percy could make up a lame excuse, Annabeth tapped his shoulder and took over talking. This wasn't tag-boxing, but she still managed to make it feel like that. "Sure," she said. "You can take a look."

Annabeth definitely had something planned. She had that look in her eyes that Percy thought looked pretty hot on her, but had to stay five feet away before she knocked him down with a crazy idea.

The little blonde girl turned to look at her older companion with puppy dog eyes. "Let's go! Please, it'll only be for a while? We'll find Uncle Harry before 8 o'clock!"

Percy almost felt sorry for the boy, whose eyebrows furrowed in concentration before letting in to the girl. Boy wasn't even in high school yet, and he's got priorities higher than his big kid ones.

"Fine, but only for a few minutes. I don't want Harry to miss us."

The deal was sealed. They would, apparently, just stop by camp, give them a quick tour, and go right back on track to the Empire State Building. Percy didn't really know what to think of it, since they could probably be serving monsters a free ticket to an all-you-can-eat buffet, but something felt really genuine about them.

They stopped by an ice cream vendor, seeing as the kids looked pretty wiped. Interestingly enough, Victoire managed to charm the vendor enough to give her two for free, which took care of the money problem.

Annabeth received this moment in order to take Percy aside as the kids ate their snack. She wasn't really much of an ice cream person, anyway.

"Two theories," Annabeth started, her voice low. "One is that the two are demigods. The girl could obviously be an Aphrodite child—maybe with charmspeak. The boy is, I don't know, probably a Hecate?"

"He talks about magic all the time," offered Percy.

Annabeth nodded a little. "Maybe. Since we can rule out the gods are having secret rendezvous all around the United Kingdom, they've got to be from somewhere around the US. Also, this 'Uncle Harry' they keep chanting about? Their guardian, right? Suppose he's an older demigod. Maybe he's teaching them to fight monsters on their own."

An older demigod. The idea wasn't insane: an older demigod, showing other little demigods how to survive on their own, without Camp Half Blood. It was unorthodox, sure, but not totally impossible.

"And?" Percy asked. "What's the other theory?"

"I don't love this idea, but—" Annabeth grew still, her voice tighter. "Percy, what if they're not demigods? What if they're something else entirely?"

He didn't know the answer to that, and he wasn't sure if he really wanted to. Looking back at the kids' expectant looks, he couldn't imagine them being revenging gods or blood-thirsty monsters. They were just kids; lost kids that wanted to go back to their uncle right after doing a little sightseeing.

"If they're monsters, Annabeth," Percy began, "I won't hesitate to take them out with Riptide."

Percy noticed the two were done with their ice cream and were holding hands now, ready to go. Teddy looked a little red and glanced down at their intertwined hands. The kid had a crush, no doubt.

"But if they are just kids," Percy swore, "I'll guide them all the way to Timbuktu, if I have to, in order for them to stay safe."

Annabeth grinned and moved stray bangs from his face. "I knew you'd say that."


	3. 3 of 3

a/n: i miss annabeth-grover-percy friendship so much! ! this is guaranteed to have a continuer. probably eh he

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_3 of 3 - Of Endings_

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_(Sunday) September 20, 2009 – 7:45 PM-8:10 PM_

.

Teddy didn't really know what he was doing there, sitting in a cramped, messy office with Victoire, two strangers, and a satyr. They were all rapidly arguing, and Teddy didn't take the time to listen hard enough. Out of them all, he might as well be safer with the half-goat.

They were all talking—if side-eyeing and whispering discreetly could count as talking—head above Victoire and him; something about secrecies and missing directors and a person named Chiron who was off campus. They seemed distressed over the latter.

All the years of Harry cautioning Teddy about the dangers of following strangers into stranger vicinities completely slipped his mind the moment they had arrived at the strawberry farm hill. Contrary to what his eyes believed, it ended up not really being a strawberry farm.

He's never been to muggle camp before, but he figured without a reference that normal muggle camps didn't have a rock climbing facility decked out with lava or actual fighting arenas. The people looked friendly enough, but Teddy didn't get why the place was filled with so much kids. Normalcy was a foreign word even here, apparently.

It was a busy place, he could tell by just setting foot through the barrier. Victoire was all excited about it, too, and kept yapping his ears off during the ride there. Teddy still didn't have a solid opinion on Percy and Annabeth. They were pretty cool, but it was obvious they didn't trust him. Not that the feeling wasn't mutual, though. There was only so much left to believe after watching someone slice through a human-sized, guitar-playing lizard in the middle of Times Square and still expect a safe tour through the city.

The satyr's first words meeting them rang curiously high and asked something like, "Percy, please-oh-please tell me you and Annabeth didn't adopt two random suspicious-looking British kids off the streets just 'cause you were feeling lonely."

He couldn't fully understand why the two teenagers were blushing at first, and then Annabeth flicked the guy's shoulder. The trio seemed pretty close.

Teddy's ears zeroed in when he heard something he could actually reply to.

"—but don't they just think there's one-hundred and two floors?" asked the satyr that introduced himself as Grover said. "Six hundred already made the cut, but one-hundred and _three_ is kind of stretching it."

"It's where the Secretary of Magic wanted to meet my godfather," Teddy replied easily. He didn't understand what he meant by six hundred, but that was with a lot of things they talked about.

Annabeth snapped her head towards him, as if surprised he was listening, which he supposed at one point he wasn't. "What's the Secretary of Magic?"

"You don't even know that and you're one of us?" asked Victoire, puzzled. It wasn't even near bedtime yet, but she rubbed her eyes tiredly.

"I..." Annabeth didn't look like the type to be speechless, though Percy and Grover covered for her.

"Alright, I know we said we'd show you around, but you guys look like you need a moment. It's been a long night." Percy said. "Want anything to drink?"

"Pumpkin juice," Teddy piped.

"No, thank you," Victoire said as she looked at the pictures of people in orange shirts propped up all around the office.

"Um, okay," Grover began, "By the way, do you mind staying here a little longer? I just want to wait for our—uh, friend. Chiron. He'll sort everything out for us."

Teddy was appalled. "We can't stay here forever! Harry'll be looking for us!"

"Aw, Teddy," said Victoire, "let's just stay for a little while longer! We didn't even get to play with other kids."

The boy huffed impatiently and lost control of his hair color, turning to an immediate orange similar to the color of the campers' outerwear. Everyone was caught off guard.

"Your hair—" Grover bleated halfway. "It's orange? Wasn't it just brown?"

Percy blinked before laughing and running a hand through his own hair. "Dude, that wasn't just me, right?"

"Teddy!" Victoire exclaimed. "You did it again!"

"Because you _made_ me! You never listen to me and boss me around all the time!" His orange hair flashed blood red, and he felt his eyes grow shades darker. "Sometimes I just _hate_ when you do that. Sometimes I just _hate you_."

Her tone softening, Victoire answered slowly, as if rehearsed. He could tell what she was doing, and that he was on the verge of a tantrum, but—"Teddy, you don't mean it. It's two days before the full moon, yeah? You're just getting cranky. I'm feeling it, too, but don't get angry, Teddy."

"Yeah, don't get angry, Teddy," repeated Grover, eyes glazed over.

"Don't get angry," Percy said in the same tone.

"What is _wrong_ with you two?" Annabeth asked them, waving a hand in front of Percy's face. Something must have dawned on her, because she faced Victoire. "Did you just use charmspeak?"

Teddy didn't know what charmspeak was, but he was glad that he wasn't as affected as the other two by Victoire's veela power. Annabeth looked really angry and confused, and he figured that those were states she didn't enjoy being in.

Victoire was also right, as much as he didn't want to admit, that he was getting angry over little things because the full moon was coming soon. Seeing as every full moon all she had to do was take a calming drought and sleep, Victoire had it less rough than him; he had to do that _and_ drink wolfsbane to subside the pain. At the very least, he was thankful he didn't transform into a werewolf, otherwise he couldn't imagine not being able to curl next to Ginny and Harry in front of the fire, drinking hot chocolate to wash away the ickyness of the potions.

"Okay," said Teddy, "Sorry about that, Vic. You can stop it now."

His best friend nodded and he could feel the release of her spell. Visually, Grover and Percy relaxed.

"Woah, okay." Percy said. "I totally had that under control."

"I hope if I say 'she's cute' I wouldn't be arrested," Grover said, stretching his back. After a moment, he added, "or castrated."

"What's castrated?" Victoire asked.

"_Alright!_" Annabeth clapped her hands once. "What in the Underworld was _that?_ _All_ of it?"

Victoire glanced back at Teddy, and he shrugged. There was no use keeping it a secret any longer. "I'm half-werewolf and metamorphmagus, and Victoire's eighth veela."

As rare as metamorphmagus and veela descendants were, there was nothing rarer than metamorphmagus and veela descendants traveling with a guy named Harry _P_. They'll put two and two together soon enough, thought Teddy. He's gonna be in so much trouble when they starting contacting his godfather.

But the reactions were less drastic than he predicted them to be. In fact, they were down right anti-climatic.

"Huh?" asked Grover.

"Bless you," said Percy.

"This is getting us nowhere," Annabeth said, massaging her temples. "Why don't we get them that _pumpkin_ _juice _and start all over?"

* * *

Whatever Annabeth had originally thought everything was going to go, even Percy knew that it was all falling flat. Talk about mysterious children—if their weird answers didn't suffice, then their powers might have. It wasn't exactly like they weren't foreign powers, seeing as Hecate kids have changed other peoples' hair colors before and Drew Tanaka from the Aphrodite cabin rocked charmspeak.

The differences were alarming, he could admit.

Anyhow, they had given the kids two goblets from the dining pavilion to fill themselves with pumpkin juice as they waited in the office. Really, though, what average child would willingly volunteer to drink pumpkin juice? Maybe it was some unknown substitute for nectar. Like, a deadbeat substitute. Whatever it was, Teddy and Victoire looked like they were in Ogygia.

"It tastes just like the ones at Hogwarts!" Teddy exclaimed. "This magic cup is wicked."

Hogwarts. Muggle. Secretary of Magic. If Percy didn't know any better, he would have thought that these kids were just regular demigods who had plans to pull one over the Savior of Olympus. That'd be less troublesome, right?

Right. Maybe this wasn't about going to the Empire State Building anymore. He felt it was deeper than that—though most bad things start from gut feelings.

Annabeth said it'd be best to "start all over", but it wasn't like they had started anything to begin with. Percy was getting a headache. This was supposed to be a non-complicated date night for the both of them, where they watched some marquee old timey movies and ate some churros or something.

"Well," his girlfriend began. They had all gathered together in Chiron's office in the Big House and decided to work things out while waiting for the centaur to come along. "Do you two feel like sharing where you're from, and who you are?"

Okay, so beating around the bush wouldn't be an option. Teddy gave them a confused look. "What do you mean?"

"She means she wants us to tell her who we are and where we're from, dummy." Victoire told him, taking a sip of her goblet. Earlier, she had tied her silky blonde hair into a ponytail, making it seem like she and Annabeth were practically siblings.

"Guys," Grover sighed, "We're going to have to ask you to be cooperative."

Teddy frowned. "Are we in trouble? Are you gonna call Harry?"

The clock on the wall read it was a few minutes past eight o'clock. "It's getting late," Victoire noted, "are you bringing us there yet?"

Annabeth slammed her fists onto Chiron's desk and some pens in a cup rattled. Even Percy was startled. "_Look_, I know you're both tired and want to go home, but the least you can do for us is answer a few questions, _got it_?"

Victoire and Teddy nodded obediently, and for a second Percy was relieved that for once, he wasn't on the receiving side of her anger.

Teddy, whose hair was a nonchalant bright turquoise, raised his hand like he was at school. "Okay, we swear. But can we ask questions, too?"

"There's no harm."

Victoire's hand shot up in the air, mimicking her friend. "Me! I've got one!"

"Go ahead," Annabeth said, definitely warming up to the position of authority.

"I've been wondering this for a while, but why don't any of your pictures _move?_" she asked, pointing at the frames Chiron had on his walls. "It's like muggle pictures."

There was a sharp intake of breath by Grover. "_Moving? _You mean videos?"

"Pictures! Like _normal_ moving ones," Teddy corrected.

"Okay," said Percy, leaning outwards in his seat, "Not the best joke ever. There's no such thing as moving pictures—"

"Unless they mean gifs," tried Grover.

"You're pronouncing it wrong, it's _gif_. Like, with _j_." Percy said.

"Beep, wrong." Grover said while chomping on a tin can. "No way that's right."

"Muggle," Annabeth tasted the word. "You've said that before. What is that?"

Victoire answered, "It's a non-magic person."

"A mortal. That's what you call a mortal?"

"It's easier to say," Percy admitted, "Rolls off the tongue nicely."

"Muph—muffle," Grover said, his mouth still stuffed with aluminum. He gulped. "Yeah, kind of neo-demigod slang. I'd use it."

"What is on the one-hundred and third floor of the Empire State?" asked Annabeth. She was totally eager, Percy noted.

Teddy blinked. "It's a conference center? Dunno. You Americans have different ways of organizing things. Harry's been in that meeting with the officials for hours."

"Conference center?" Grover asked. "Last time I heard, floor one-oh-three has only ever been a rooftop thing for sightseeing and stuff. I think."

"And the Secretary of _Magic?_" Annabeth persisted. "There are only 15 executive departments, and magic isn't one of them."

"Um," Teddy bit his lip. "I don't know. I think he's the eq—equa—"

"Equivalent?" Percy offered. He couldn't even believe that they were actually interrogating the eleven and nine year old children he had promised to help find their guardian only an hour ago. Besides their powers, they were _kids_.

"Yeah! Equivalent of our Minister of Magic back home!"

Because it seemed like they were going to continue on using terms like that, Percy decided to get a more straightforward answer. "And where is 'back home'?"

"Britain," Teddy answered. "More like somewhere in Scotland, if you count Hogwarts."

There it was again. He kind of understood why Annabeth blew up the first time. It was like some wild goose chase that even the kids didn't know they were leading them into.

Britain and/or Scotland also ruled out the idea of another person raising demigod kids in the United States to fight on their own. Maybe it was impossible—Camp Half-Blood was the only demigod camp in the country, after all.

"Annabeth," Victoire asked, strangely quiet. "What did Mr. Grover mean by that from before? What's a demigod?"

The surprised silence that filled the room could have made even the slightest squeak of a sneaker amplify ten times higher.

"You—"

Suddenly, as if on cue, the office door opened to reveal a frazzled-looking Chiron—in wheelchair form—and a man with bright emerald eyes toting a lightning bolt scar on his forehead. They both carried attaché cases for business and wore suits, and just by the warmth that burst inside the room, he could only guess who the man was.

"_Harry!_"

"Uncle Harry!"

The two kids leaped off their seats and were immediately embraced by the older man, Teddy's hair changing from turquoise to his godfather's black messy locks. Victoire looked happier and more satisfied than Percy had seen her the whole night, making her turn out to be the prettiest little thing.

"Hello, children," Chiron's deep voice filled the previously silent room. "It seems that you have met the wizards. I'm thinking there's quite a bit of explaining to do, hm?"

The man straightened up and sent Percy, Annabeth, and Grover a blinding smile. "Good evening! I'm Harry Potter, and thank you so much for taking care of these little trouble makers."


End file.
